Issue 29 of the series “Geographia Slovaca”, focused on active citizenship and policy of the urban environment change, has been published

Šuška, Pavel
AKTÍVNE OBČIANSTVO A POLITIKA PREMIEN MESTSKÉHO PROSTREDIA V POSTSOCIALISICKEJ BRATISLAVE / ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE POLICY OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT CHANGE IN THE POST-SOCIALIST BRATISLAVA
Geografický ústav, 2014, 147 pages.
Fulltext

This monograph deals with the specific parameter of local government in the sphere of built-up area change in Bratislava in the second decade of the post-socialist transition. Governance is interpreted as the results of conditions and relationships created by power positions and capacities, or exploitation of such capacities, of stakeholders. Analysed conflicts between the different publicly formulated ideas of future foreseen for the particular localities based on the different value orientation of the participating actors (capital, public administration and civic society) provide the picture of the existing relationships in urban governance. The basic context of the local policy focused on built-up area change is the global political and economic change and the post-socialist transition of the SR, which projected themselves into the dynamism of relationships between the local actors.
Political, economic and social change has progressively transformed Bratislava into an attractive place for capital investments mostly placed into the built-up environment. While many of the economic reforms strengthened the general structural advantage of capital, the local post-socialist transition has left intact the underdeveloped institutional environment which limits the efficient performance of some key functions of public administration. In response to incurring problems and conflicts in the sphere of urban change the local activism increases. The activism itself has undergone the post-socialist transformation albeit stigmatised by the specific features of the historical development of civil society and environmental conservation ideas, which provided for the context of conservationist activities and led to its development and increasing political weight.